One of three helicopters showered 1-million rose petals on the Statue of Liberty during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, Friday, June 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

One of three helicopters showered 1-million rose petals on the Statue of Liberty during a ceremony commemorating the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion, on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, Friday, June 6, 2014. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

French WWII veteran Leon Gautier of the Kiieffer commando, left, and German WWII veteran, paratrooper Johannes Borner, embrace as a sign of reconciliation during an international ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Allied landings on D-Day on Sword Beach in Ouistreham, in Normandy, France, Friday, June 6 June 2014. World leaders and veterans gathered by the beaches of Normandy on Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of World War Two’s D-Day landings. (AP Photo/Ian Langsdon, Pool)

U.S. President Barack Obama, center, and French President Francois Hollande, left, participate in the 70th French-American commemoration D-Day ceremony at the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial in Colleville-sur-Mer, France on Friday, June 6, 2014. World leaders and veterans gathered by the beaches of Normandy on Friday to mark the 70th anniversary of World War Two’s D-Day landings. (AP Photo/Pascal Rossignol, Pool)

People wearing WWII style clothes look toward the sea, on the beach of Arromanches, western France, Friday June 6, 2014. Ceremonies to commemorate the 70th anniversary of D-Day are drawing thousands of visitors to the cemeteries, beaches and stone-walled villages of Normandy this week, including some of the few remaining survivors of the largest sea-borne invasion ever mounted. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

93 year old U.S WW II veteran Jim Martin of the 101st Airborne, left, completes a tandem parachute jump onto Utah Beach, western France, Thursday June 5, 2014, as part of the commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the D Day. World leaders and veterans prepare to mark the 70th anniversary of the invasion this week in Normandy. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

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Friday is the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings of Allied troops in Normandy, the largest amphibious invasion in history and a turning point in World War II. Here are some of the events held or planned around the United States and in France:

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OBAMA HONORS WWII GENERATION AT NORMANDY

President Barack Obama visited the beaches at Normandy in what he called a “powerful manifestation of America’s commitment to human freedom” that lives on in a new generation. He spoke from the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial, where nearly 10,000 white marble tombstones sit on a bluff overlooking the site of the battle’s most violent fighting at Omaha Beach. He described D-Day’s devastating scene in vivid terms, recalling that “by daybreak, blood soaked the water” and “thousands of rounds bit into flesh and sand.” His speech came after he met privately with some of the dwindling number of surviving troops who fought Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, along with those who have served since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

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DIGNITARIES, VETERANS TAKE TO NORMANDY

Several men who stormed Normandy’s shore 70 years ago joined world leaders in paying tribute to the 150,000 Allied troops who risked and lost their lives. “France will never forget what it owes these soldiers, what it owes the United States,” French President Francois Hollande said at the Normandy American Cemetery. “Vive l’Amerique! Vive la France! And long live the memory of those who fell here for our liberty.” In all, 19 world leaders, more than 1,000 veterans and many others gathered to honor the troops and civilians who fell in mighty battles that helped bring Europe peace and unity. German Chancellor Angela Merkel and a few German veterans also took part in Friday’s ceremony, as a gesture of the European unity that the Allied victory brought.

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US D-DAY VETS HONOR FALLEN COMRADES

The seven returning vets from the U.S. 29th Infantry Division and their family members raised a toast to those who died in the invasion on Omaha Beach. At 6:30 a.m., the precise hour that the first waves of infantry began wading ashore under a hailstorm of German machine gun and mortar fire, the men, most now in their 90s, raised glasses of bracing Calvados apple brandy to the memory of friends killed that day. “Twenty-nine, let’s go!” they shouted, then downed the shots. Hundreds of onlookers crowded the beach, including many re-enactors in period army uniforms. Some drove vintage jeeps and armored vehicles like those that would have been seen 70 years ago. A military band of serving 29th division members played taps and “Amazing Grace” before the seven vets walked off the beach to the applause.

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ROSE PETALS OVER LADY LIBERTY

France is saying “thank you” to the United States for its help in World War II. Three helicopters showered a million rose petals on the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. A French military frigate, the Lafayette, was moored near the statue, which was a gift from France. Hundreds of history buffs, World War II veterans and active duty military members gathered for the event. Children unfurled two giant flags at the base of the statue: One American, one French. The band then played both countries’ national anthems. The ceremony also included a 21-gun salute to honor veterans of the war.

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YOGI BERRA, D-DAY ROCKET BOAT VET, HONORED FOR SERVICE

Seventy years ago, Lawrence Peter Berra was a 19-year-old from St. Louis on a small attack boat launching rockets at the Germans during the Allied invasion of Normandy. The minor league baseball player, who would later become known worldwide as Yogi, emerged unscathed from that bloody day. Now 89 years old, Berra was honored by the New Jersey museum that bears his name, as well as by the Navy and several veterans groups. His age prevented him from participating in ceremonies in France. He sat in a